There is no one else who the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders would have wanted to have at the plate in that situation.
It was the top of the ninth inning of the third and deciding game of the International League Championship Series. The RailRiders were trying to stage a truly improbable comeback. Despite trailing at the start of the ninth, 7-0, they had batted around, scored four times, and had the bases loaded. Jose Rojas came up to bat as the potential go-ahead run. All season, Rojas had come through
in the clutch. The MVP candidate led the league in home runs with 32 — including three grand slams — and 105 RBIs.
Unfortunately, there was no Hollywood-type ending; no Roy Hobbs hitting a light tower and sending sparks everywhere. Jacksonville pitcher Josh White worked the count to 2-2 on Rojas, who fouled off the next three pitches before swinging and missing to the end the game.
The Jumbo Shrimp held on for a 7-4 victory at VyStar Ballpark in Florida that won the series, 2-1, and brought Jacksonville its second International League title, its first since 1968.
Instead of the RailRiders heading to Vegas to play in the Triple-A National Championship Game tonight, it is the Jumbo Shrimp who will face the Pacific Coast League champion Las Vegas Aviators. They fell to 2-7 in International League final appearances, mainly because they were stymied by Jacksonville pitching.
During the regular season, the Jumbo Shrimp led the league in team ERA at 3.73. In the final series, the RailRiders batted just .204 (21-for-103) and scored 13 runs. They drew 19 walks and struck out 33 times. They left 30 runners on base and were 6 for 30 with runners in scoring position.
Of the 28 innings in the series, the RailRiders scored runs in just five of them.
The series started so well for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre too, who came in hot after earning their spot in the title game with a sterling 49-26 record in the second half. In Game 1, the RailRiders struck for four runs in the top of the third inning on a three-run home run by T.J. Rumfield, followed by a solo shot from Jeimer Candelario to erase a 2-0 Jacksonville lead. It stayed 4-2 until the bottom of the ninth when the RailRiders bullpen faltered and allowed the Jumbo Shrimp to tie the game at four all. But J.C. Escarra saved them with a RBI double in the top of the 10th and Ian Hamilton struck out the side in the bottom half of the inning to secure the 5-4 win.
Game 2 started with a similar script. Jacksonville took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, but the RailRiders answered immediately in the top of the third and tied it on a run-scoring groundout by Spencer Jones and a RBI double by Brennen Davis. The Jumbo Shrimp, however, hit consecutive two-out solo home runs off Allan Winans in the bottom of the third and added another run in the fourth to build a 5-2 lead. Jorbit Vivas’ two-run home run in the sixth got the RailRiders within one, but Jacksonville scored an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth for a series-evening 6-4 win.
The loss was particularly frustrating since the RailRiders could not capitalize on 10 walks by Jacksonville pitching. They stranded 14 and were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
Things began well in Game 3 for the RailRiders as Escarra singled with one out and Jones singled with two outs in the top of the first, but were stranded. Over the next seven innings, the RailRiders managed only one hit off four Jacksonville pitchers: a one-out single in the fifth by Braden Shewmake.
Meanwhile, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz — the New York Yankees’ No. 5 prospect according to MLB Pipeline — got the start for the RailRiders in Game 3, just his second in Triple-A. He didn’t make it out of the first inning as the Jumbo Shrimp scored five times, then tacked on solo runs in the second and third innings to build a 7-0 lead.
While the RailRiders made a valiant attempt to rally in the top of the ninth, the early deficit was too much to overcome. A disappointing end to an otherwise great season that saw them go 64-32 after May 29 to claim the second-half title and finish with 87 wins — tied for fifth-most in franchise history.
